An unseen De Sica masterpiece, never before released in the US, in a brand new restoration courtesy of Rialto!

Amidst Italy’s “economic miracle” (“il boom”) of the early 1960s, everybody’s dancing to Chubby Checker and getting filthy rich – everyone except archetypal Everyman loser Alberto Sordi (the great star of Mafioso, The White Sheik, I Vitelloni, etc., etc.), who’s in hock to his eyeballs. And everyone in Rome seems to know it, except his beloved, status-proud wife Gianna Maria Canale. But then, rich, rich matron Elena Nicolai offers him a way out: enough lire to get out of debt – and to re-establish himself – in exchange for …an eye-popping bargain.

Biting satire made even blacker by Piero Piccioni’s persistently perky score, and scripted by De Sica’s longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini (Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D., Gold of Naples, etc.).

“A bittersweet satire of the wife-swapping, twist-dancing, get-rich-quick lifestyle!” – Kate Stables, Sight & Sound
“Among the most savage and surreal of Italian comedies… Vibrant, funny, and disturbing!” – Bilge Ebiri, The Village Voice